A George III silver telescopic toasting fork

A George III silver telescopic toasting fork,

probably by George Cowles, London 1809,

of four section cylindrical form, three pronged tines, inscribed 'Bat. Weeks' s R. Museum. Tichborne St. 1138', plus another similar, inscribed 'Weeks's Museum, Tichborne St, No.709', and another fork with a wooden baluster handle, London 1800. (3)

Provenance: From the Collection of the late Tony Dove.

Thomas Weeks' celebrated Museum of mechanical curiosities which was established around 1797 at 3 & 4 Tichbourne Street in Haymarket, London. The Museum became a place of amusement for sophisticated Londoners in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Weeks's museum was a shop, exhibition space and a private house where he displayed a variety of expensive mechanical toys and contrivances ranging from self-playing organs to mechanical spiders.